 For those of you kids who want a bird and your mom or dad or whoever's responsible in your household does not want one, you kids are going to hate me again. Hello, my fellow snippers and flighters. My name is Marlene McCohen and welcome to my channel. For those of you who are new here, thank you so, so much for being here. I'm really excited to have you, which reminds me, let's do a few shout outs. And these aren't shout outs from my flighters club. Some of you are new subscribers, which means the world to me. So shout out to a pretty mistake. Troll King Izzy, Brian Allen, Alexis Peckham. Fun day is weird and shish kebab. That's kind of funny, you know, activates like the Persian and me. Oh my God, guys, did I introduce Leo? This is Leo and this is Leo's merch, which I'm happily wearing because I actually started this video and I was wearing the Vinnie merch and I just got too hot, which is so unlike me. So if you guys want cool merch, the coolest bird merch in the biz, don't forget to check on the link below and check out my store. It's really cool. And by the way, Jersey is here. She may or may not grace us with her present. She's currently at the edge of my table looking out the window. For those of you who don't know, that is my umbrella cockatoo. And she's, she's a star. You know, she's looking at me. She's like, oh really? You're talking about me? So I want to thank you guys for being here and thank you guys for subscribing. If you watch my channel and you haven't subscribed yet, please subscribe. It means the world to me and I really appreciate it. And so does Leo, right Leo? In today's video, we are going to be talking about 10 people that should not get birds or 10 types of people. Now, before we go on, mostly because I want it to be an even 10 number, I'm going to first tell you my type of person that I think should not get a bird. So this is not included in the top 10 list, but this is like my own personal reason. And this is a perfect video for those of you guys just starting out in the bird world. You don't have a bird. Maybe you're interested in bird or maybe not. Maybe you just love animals and want to know everything you can because you're well educated. So in that case, welcome. You are my people. The first type of person that I recommend never getting a bird. Well, this is like person zero, right? Cause like, I mean, we haven't started our top 10 yet. The person that has not researched parrots enough, I know that sounds so annoying because when you want something, you just want it. You kind of just want to go out and get a bird. And believe me, I am one of those people when I want it, I want it now. Lucky for me, I've been with birds since I was seven years old. But if you haven't, oh my God, I cannot stress enough the importance of research, research, research. And in fact, I don't even think there's any amount of research that can prepare you for getting a bird like having experience with parrots. Birds are becoming extremely popular. I mean, they had a lot of popularity back in the day and then they slowly kind of lost their popularity. But now with YouTube and all the funny things that birds do and the videos that we're seeing going viral, birds have become extremely, extremely recognized as fun, entertaining, cute, birds are dancing, birds are talking, things that I wasn't even aware of until I got my first bird when I was a kid and most of my friends were not aware of. But the internet is making birds look extremely attractive to people. And I'm here to tell you that it is not all that it is cracked up to be. I'm here to tell you that, but for me, I just love them. And I have a great life with my parrots, but I honestly do not expect it to be that way for you. So that's why we're about to prepare you for the worst. All right, let's get to it. By the way, guys, these are in no particular order. Some reasons may be more important than the other, but for me, they are in no particular order. Reason number 10. People that need quiet in their house. Maybe you work from home. Maybe you have an in-house yoga studio and in-house chiropractic. Maybe you need to achieve serenity all day. Or maybe you're just like a super businessman with phone calls and you don't need a jealous parrot. Really upset because you're not paying attention to him because you are, oh my God, on the phone. Yeah, this can actually happen. Maybe you are the type of person that is sensitive to sounds. Maybe you're extremely OCD. Maybe you have a child with certain sensitivities and you don't think they would adjust to sounds very well, which can kind of be an interesting thing because sometimes birds are really great for certain kinds of kids with certain kinds of disabilities. And then sometimes because of noise factors, they aren't. So if you're interested in something like that, you would really need guidance before getting a bird and finding out what kind of bird is right for your home. But seriously, are you the type of person that you like to have peace and quiet? Maybe you like to watch TV a lot. Maybe you just like, maybe no judgment on what you do in your house, but you don't want noise. Maybe a parrot is not right for you. Now keep in mind with all of these reasons, guys, you may be in the comments like, yeah, but I work from home and my bird is perfect and he's super quiet. Yes, of course, like every situation is different. You might find something on this list that you completely disagree with because you have been able to overcome it. But remember guys, the most important thing here is to let people know all the possibilities before they happen. With that being said, I have like 10 birds in my house right now and they're pretty much all quiet, but I think I'm completely a different case because I know how to handle them in a certain way. And I always say that birds are loud because you're not giving them what they want or they need something, but that's a completely different story. And right now it's more important that you understand that, yes, birds do get loud. In fact, if you're here and you're looking for a macaw, one thing you should know is that like when they scream and I swear my macaw is the quietest of all my birds in terms of like, he's not noisy, he doesn't scream a lot. But when he does, like you can get to the depths of your soul. And he might scream until I turn it on. Now, if you guys remember that I got this bird from somebody, okay, so he definitely wants to watch his show. Like, you know, when guests are over, it's like, oh no, I wasn't prepared to hear that sound today. That is a possibility that you guys need to consider. All right, moving on. Reason number nine. This one's gonna be a shocker. People that love animals. What? I mean, personally, I always say if you really love animals, then you're really gonna love birds. But here's why, if you're in Jersey's nodding, here's why if you're an animal person, I know, are you disagreeing with me? Your love. Do you wanna come say hello? You can come say hello, but I gotta get back to my videos. So if you do, you gotta like make that choice now. Hey, Jersey. Yes. People that love animals, like if you generally are the type of person that you signed up to go feed a baby otter five years from now when you finally get accepted, then yes, you're absolutely going to love birds, but he has a bird right for you. So here's why I think people that are generally animal lovers, especially like dog and cat lovers, may not be the right fit for a bird. This is very hard to explain because I don't mean that you wouldn't love a bird. Obviously the first step to having a bird is being an animal lover. But if you're really into dogs and cats and you're used to that, you may not be prepared for how difficult it can be to acquire a parrot's love, right? So a lot of times we get our dogs and sure we had to train them. We had to potty train them. And then it's kind of done, right? And then your dog is all loyal. Your dog's not holding grudges. Your dog's not biting you randomly. Like once your dog doesn't bite, he probably never will bite you. Obviously there's different cases for everything. But if you're not really into animal training or if you don't have the background to tame and work with exotic animals, then I don't think having a bird is right for you. You may be used to having a very simple animal. My dog, she's the easiest one in this house. So is my cat actually. But my birds, they need a whole lot of different interaction. And the one thing you have to remember about birds is if you aren't bonding with your parrot or you don't have control over your bird and don't understand what your bird wants, then your bird is most likely gonna be locked in a cage and then you are the wrong person for a bird. So I guess what I'm saying is a lot of times people that are great with dogs and cats really expect birds to be simple and they are not. It's not really like adopting a cute little pet. It's more so like getting a quick degree in animal psychology so that you can maintain and handle your new bird properly in ways that you never expected you would have to. And then realizing that you're committed to a two-year-old toddler for the rest of your life that now rules your household. There we go, I said it. And on that note, under this category, if you are a cat person and you have cats in your house and I'll make a separate video on this, although you may have seen many dogs and cats get along with birds, I highly don't recommend it, especially with larger dogs and cats. Now, don't go into the comments and be like, but my cat loves my bird, blah, blah, blah. Cats actually have saliva, which is toxic to parrots and it's very important that your bird is out all day long. So what are you gonna do with your cat, right? I'm gonna make a separate video on this because you guys obviously know that I have a cat, but since having a cat, I definitely have some strong opinions on the whole situation. Moving on, reason number eight. People that travel for work and or are very spontaneous. So for example, I have a friend that is a flight attendant and she travels a lot, but before she was a flight attendant, she was extremely spontaneous, like I'm gonna go live in New York now and I'm gonna go live in England now. She would not be the person for a bird. Don't get me wrong, you can be a traveler and have a bird, I travel a lot and we'll make another video on that and how I deal with that, but you can't really be up for changing your lifestyle or never being home. So if you have a job where you love to travel a lot, you're really gonna affect your bird's mentality, your bird's psychology every time you leave. Specifically, I wouldn't recommend a rescue for that type of person. If you're gonna move to another country a lot of times because of quarantines, you cannot take your bird with you. So if you feel like your work is ever gonna be unstable or changeable in that way, that's something that you really have to consider and birds can get prone to aggression, depression, feather plucking when their owner is not around. They can feel really strong senses of abandonment. So if you have any of these types of jobs and no other family that is bonded with your bird, I would not recommend a parrot for you. Reason number seven. People that are not settled, okay. So what do I mean by that? Maybe you are planning some life changes. Maybe you're 14 years old and in four years you're gonna go to college. I know a lot of you kids are gonna be like, no, this is gonna make it so hard for me to convince my mom to get me a bird, but honestly, you have to commit to a parrot in the way that you commit to a child or the way that you commit to a life partner, right? You want it to be forever. Now a lot of people think that's easy because you have dogs and of course you're gonna commit to your dog for the rest of their life, right? But dogs live 12 years, 14 years, 15 years. Cats live a little bit longer sometimes, right? Birds can live 20, 30, 40, 70 years sometimes. So a lot of birds outlive their owners and to imagine that it doesn't matter if you abandon a bird or change your mind, you are way, way incorrect and you need to go back to my first reason, reason zero, which is that you need to do more research on parrots. This is not a bird to just like get in a cage and oh my God, it's so pretty and he bit me and he doesn't wanna come out. Like none of that is not acceptable and that's what we're here to change, right? Which also brings me to the next type of person that should not have a bird. Reason number six. You kids are gonna hate me again. For those of you kids who want a bird and your mom or dad or whoever's responsible in your household does not want one, unless you can show them the love and get them to have that love for birds, it's not gonna work and I'm gonna tell you why. Because eventually you're going to go to college, you're gonna move out, you're gonna have a lot of life changes and the bird is gonna become your mom's responsibility, right? And if your mom wasn't interested in having another child per se and I say this because again, they're a lot different than Doug. They need to be with you all the time, included in everything you do and if not, they will scream your house down, destroy things, resort to plucking. So it is very important that this is how you interact with a parrot in your home. So if your parents are not on board, it's not a great thing for the bird. It's unfair for the bird because you can't just have a bird for like seven years, four years and then go to college and then the bird is extremely unhappy. A bird has to be a family decision. It has to be something that all of the members of the family agree upon, that you kind of have a plan for what to do when things start changing, who's going to have the family bird and it's great to have a family where there's siblings and more than one person that loves the parrot. Because like I said, with such a long lifespan, it's like our lifespans, right? We never stay stagnant in our lives for more than five to 10 years, a lot of times. I mean, you go to school, you go to college, you start getting new jobs, you get married. There's a lot of life changes for you and that will always be impactful for a bird who has sometimes just as long of a lifespan. So you really have to consider that and have like an end goal and a game plan for no matter what changes will occur in life. Reason number five. People that don't have a lot of time in the day and this includes families as a whole. So for example, let's say you are a child and you really love birds and you want a bird, but you go to school, you have a lot of homework and you have a lot of extracurricular activities. Now don't get me wrong. I got my first bird when I was seven. I was involved in a lot of extracurricular activities. But when I did my homework, my bird was always with me. He was on my shoulder or he was trying to like get my pens and pencils and like just really included. I showered with my bird. I had to really make sure to include my bird but I also had a sibling that was around that like if I was away in, I don't know, theater group after school, my brother got home and the first thing he would run to is the bird. So if you don't have a family dynamic or a personal dynamic where you really have a lot of time to spend with a bird, maybe you're a socialite, maybe you like to go out with friends, hang out. Maybe you have long hours at work. Maybe you only have weekends available. You're probably not the right person for a bird. It's not the type of situation where you could be like, yeah, now's your time out of the cage. You get like three hours. I mean, I really promote engaged, not caged because why would you have a dog and keep him in a kennel and let him out three hours a day, right? That's why I have bird stands all over the house and that's why I have them out and involved with me. On that note, but this would be a separate video. It's important to try to create independent birds so that they don't wanna be on you and need to be on you all the time to be stimulated. It's something that you really have to work through and nourish with your bird. And these kind of things are not easy if you are new to birds. So yeah, reason number four. This reason is very personal to me because a lot of people come through this house and most of my friends really, really just start loving birds like even if they don't get one, they just like understand them, wanna feed them, wanna hang out with them or the bird's ready for bed, let me help you. So this reason is very important to me. If you are not an empath, and I know that sounds crazy, what is an empath? An empath is a person that has a lot of empathy for others and they can kind of see the other person's side or situation and the same goes for animals, right? This is extremely important with birds. If you are all about yourself and how things are affecting you, you're not good for a bird. If you take things personally and you take animals personally, you are not good for a bird. So for example, I know someone, she lives with somebody that has a bird. She just doesn't understand and she's like, the bird bit me when I was trying to feed it. Like, what doesn't the bird understand? Like, you know, maybe I just won't feed it. You can't take the bird personally. If a bird bites you, you have to be the type of person to say, what did I do wrong? How was my approach? Where did my approach go wrong? Did I make the bird feel uncomfortable? And if you didn't feel like you did anything wrong and you can't pinpoint the behavior, you're gonna have to start noticing other things maybe that are bothering the bird outside circumstances. Can't be about you. You can't take a bird personally to the point where you treat it differently and you don't give it love. A bird is constant work and attention. I honestly think that if you're not interested in being some sort of an animal trainer or an animal behaviorist or like a little kid with wide open eyes that wants to know everything about animals, then you may not be right for a bird because birds require a certain amount of compassion and understanding every single day. Once I understand my dog, I understand my dog, but a bird will teach you something new every day and you're always gonna be on your toes trying to figure out what did you do wrong and how to not do it again. You will basically get nowhere if you hold a grudge against your parrot. Reason number three, people that do not like to work hard for love. I know that sounds crazy, but with birds, you're gonna be working for it every day. Now some of you may have like the sweetest birds that just like love you no matter what you do, but if you're honest with yourself, you know that birds, especially when you first get them, you really need to work with them. It's a whole different ball game than a dog and this is so difficult for people to imagine because for a lot of people, the pet is a pet. It's like something that is in your house that you get to hug, love, kiss, come here Sandy, like let's hug, let's, you know, you wanna belly scratch? You know, you could do a lot of things with your dog on your terms. With a parrot, you can't, you're kind of always on their terms. If you have a good amount of control and you know birds really well, I have 10 different species of parrots in my house and I have great control over all of them because I understand their body movements and their body language, but every single one is different. And yeah, sometimes you're gonna see them do crazy things because I gotta show you the truth of what it's like to be with a bird. And sometimes you'll see things that look like they're out of control, like Vinny, my crazy gangster cockatoo, dive bombing George. A lot of that is for entertainment. A lot of it is within control because I know he's gonna do that and I know I'm gonna get a great video. But you have to be that type of person that knows exactly what your bird is gonna do and when. I know when my birds are gonna dance. I know what music they like. I know what types of different songs each bird likes. I know when it's time for them to dance, when it's time for them to get excited, how to turn aggression into positive actions. There's a lot to know. It's extremely difficult, so lot to learn. For those of you who love to be educated, you might actually love having a parrot because you're always gonna be on your toes trying to figure things out and they're always gonna be entertaining you with new and different things. But at the same time, maybe you just wanna relax and have a dog, you know? Maybe you just wanna cat. So that's just something to think about. Reason number two. Oh my God, this reason. People that like everything perfect. And like I said in the beginning of this video, you may see a reason and be like, I like everything perfect, but I still love my bird. So true, so me. I'm extremely OCD, you guys don't even know. I've dealt with my obsessive compulsiveness my entire life and birds would seem to be the opposite of that. I mean, I'm the type that like, I don't even wanna bend my book cause I don't wanna crease in it. I don't like things to look lived in, you know? I'm one of those psychos. Meanwhile, I have a bunch of parrots that will chew up anything they can and this is currently what my phone case looks like. You know, Cody ate it. And I have to come to terms with these things. If you're somebody that likes everything perfect, a bird may not be for you. Maybe you have a beautiful house. Maybe you don't want your birds eating your molding. Maybe you don't want birds eating the wood chairs that you have. I mean, we have to change our lifestyle in terms of things we buy. Even the furniture for outside on our patio. It's always gonna be something that's not chewable by a parrot. So usually some kind of like, you know, metal or iron or whatever. We're not gonna get that wicker type stuff or things that look like a major parrot toy to birds, you know, things made out of this. I can't move into a house that has railing that's like made out of wood cause God forbid the bird will eat it. So you really have to change your lifestyle and you know, be willing to let things go if something disastrous happens. Now I know some people have really huge dogs that like eat the cabinets and lucky for me that hasn't happened. A lot of the damage that my birds have done is easily replaceable, but not for everyone, you know? So that's really something to think about. Birds love to chew wood. They love to destroy things. They love to put holes in your shirts. I mean, imagine you have a beautiful new couch and a bird puts a hole in it. Like, ugh, ugh. I don't know, first one to understand. And if you're a mom watching this with your kid, then that's also something to consider because sometimes with kids, they don't have the greatest control and the greatest idea of consistent attention. So you wanna make sure that they haven't, you know, left the bird alone to destroy something because too many accidents will happen. Reason number one. You may not think this is a big deal, but I kinda do. I think like if you really look into it, this is something to think about. People that don't eat healthy. Why is this important? Because birds need to have a very clean diet. We're talking about a lot of fresh vegetables, a little bit of fruit, mostly vegetables, and then you have to have an array of the right kind of seeds for the parrot and things that are good for their feathers. You really have to do your research where the bird comes from, what they eat in their natural environment. Some birds do need certain kind of seeds for the oils in their feathers, but all birds need fruits and vegetables. This can be really hard if you're not healthy yourself. I mean, if you're sitting around and you're like, I need to get my McDonald's on and you're got a bunch of French fries, I mean, the birds are gonna go for it. If you sit around and snack on potato chips instead of carrots and celery, this is kind of what your birds are going to eat. It's very hard for people to prepare a super healthy diet for their parrots and then eat unhealthy themselves. So a bird can be a great motivator for you to eat healthy, but I find it much easier to feed a bird healthy if you're eating healthy yourself. So you have to think about it. With birds, you can't just get a bag of seeds and not think that you're gonna be chopping up fresh vegetables for them daily, multiple times a day as well, or preparing chop and having it ready for them. And if you have more birds than one, this is gonna be a lot harder, right? And then on top of that, you really wanna make sure that they're eating organic and non-GMOs. You want their feathers to be beautiful. You wanna prevent feather plucking. You wanna prevent stress. So a lot of this is extremely important. And it's something that a lot of people don't talk about because a lot of people don't think about the correlation between eating healthy yourself and feeding your birds. I haven't made a ton of cooking videos on my channel for parrots. I have made one. We have talked about some foods that we give our birds, but a lot of that is because I eat so healthy myself. A lot of you guys know, a lot of times I have a raw vegan and or vegan vegetable delivery to my house, gluten-free, non-GMO, organic, all that. I have those things prepared for me, sent to me, share them with my birds, George cuts up all the chop and chop is basically all of the different array of vegetables and some herbs that you wanna make for your birds and have it available for them daily and throughout the week and you gotta change it up too cause birds get bored. So, you know, if you're not skilled in the kitchen, it's not impossible. I'm not exactly the most kitchen-savvy person, but I'm with someone who is. So that makes it a lot easier. So yeah, that is my top 10 people that should not get a parrot. Obviously there's a lot more that goes into it. And obviously guys, you may be the person that travels all the time and you made it work. There are a lot of different situations. Every bird's different. Not all of this will go for one person, but if you are new to birds, these are a lot of things to think about and a lot of things to talk over with your family and be aware of. I wanna thank you guys for being here. If you watch my videos all the time and you haven't subscribed, please subscribe for me. That would be amazing. Check out all my links below. I also have an Amazon store where I have recommended products for birds. If you wanna become part of my flighters club and get videos early on other perks, then it's just my way of providing extra to you guys that want it and are interested in it. So that's all it is. I hope you guys have a wonderful day. And if you are really new to birds, these smell so good. Remember, engage not caged. We want to promote engaging with and not caging parrots. Please share this video with somebody who needs to know that or anybody that you think has a bird and they're not being treated well. I love you guys so much. Bye. Jersey, do you wanna say goodbye? Cause they really want you to say goodbye to them. Everybody wants you to say bye. Say bye. All right guys, bye. And guys, don't forget to check out my new line of organic bird food called Marlene's signature blend made with tops for small and large birds. The link is below.